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Their furious daughter Cheryl Bates says South Tyneside Social Services treatment of her parents is “heartbreaking and cruel”.

She said: “Why should they be apart after all this time? What gives social services the right to play God?

“They haven’t even got that much time left together. My dad will be lucky if he gets another six months.

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The couple surrounded by guests on their wedding day

“Every day he says, ‘Where is your mam?’ He’s sitting outside his room in a chair waiting for my mam. He won’t go to bed, he’s sleeping in the chair. I am desperate for them to be reunited so they can spend rest of their days together.”

What gives social services the right to play God?

Cheryl Bates, daughter

Mr Lorrison, a former Merchant Navy cook and miner, and his retired shop manager wife, were married in Christ Church in neighbouring North Shields in 1950 and have three children – Gary, 64, Cheryl, 60, and Debra, 49.

The couple were separated after Mrs Lorrison was rushed to South Tyneside Hospital nine weeks ago.

Ms Bates, a carer, said: “My mam was taken to hospital after we found her collapsed. She had a kidney infection and a lung infection.

"My dad wasn’t well himself, so we arranged for him to go into a home while she recovered.